In the series, the ship is said to have begun her life in the Newport News Orbital Shipyards above Earth, where her keel was laid in CY 9768. The backstory relates that construction proceeded without a hitch right through the delivery and installation of the Headwaters of Invention Mark VIII Slipstream engines in CY 9772. The series gives Andromeda as the tenth Glorious Heritage-class heavy cruiser, High Guard ship of the line, from the days of the old Systems Commonwealth. The opening episodes of the show relate that Andromeda and her captain, Dylan Hunt (played by Kevin Sorbo) were frozen in the event horizon of a black hole for 300 years before being rescued by the crew of the Eureka Maru in CY 10087 (approx 5167 CE).

The ship has an artificial intelligence (AI). Andromeda appears to the crew in three formats: on the two-dimensional monitors; as a three-dimensional holographic projection; and as the avatar Rommie (all three played by Lexa Doig). In the High Guard, AIs are considered officers as part of their own crew.

An avatar is a humanoid representation of an intelligence, and Andromeda is shown to have the above mentioned holographic and android avatars that represent the personality and physical representation of the ship's AI, in this case in the form of a humanfemale. In one episode, the ship's engineer, Seamus Zelazny Harper (played by Gordon Michael Woolvett), builds an android as her second avatar, which can interact with the holographic avatar and the monitors, and also travel, walk and act outside the ship. Fans of the series refer to the monitor and hologram manifestations as "Core" and "Logic", respectively. All three versions of the Andromeda AI have been shown to have distinct personalities and while they are based on the same root personality they have at times been seen having discussions together and even arguing with themselves.

In the series, the ship is equipped with a slipstream drive for FTL (faster than light) travel in which it uses an Exotic Matter Lens to focus and open a Slipstream Portal.

Within the fictional universe of the series, the starship Andromeda is shown to be somewhat unusual as it is clearly implied that the controlling AI has an emotional attachment to her Captain Dylan Hunt. This is a variation on the idea of captains being in love with their ships, implied for centuries and extensively used by Roddenberry in Star Trek.